FUN-travel: Boston to Montreal Cruise – Temporary Disruption by Hurricane Jose
September 22, 2017 by Susan Clarke · Comments Off on FUN-travel: Boston to Montreal Cruise – Temporary Disruption by Hurricane Jose
- Spent the night in Rockport, MA.
- Wind & Rain hit…
…during the night…
…set to sail at 5 pm.
- Picture posts…
…to follow…
…when weather permits.
FUN-fact: Had luscious lobster at Roy Moore’s Fish Shack!
FUN-photos: Trieste to Venice for Adriatic Cruise – October, 2013
November 11, 2013 by Susan Clarke · Comments Off on FUN-photos: Trieste to Venice for Adriatic Cruise – October, 2013
We arrived in Trieste on October 2nd and were warmly welcomed by Chris’ sister Cinzia. We spent three wonderful days with her and her family before taking the train to Venice to board the ship for our 10 day Adriatic Cruise on Seabourn. Our stops included Corfu, Katakolon, & Igoumenitsa, Greece – Brindisi, Italy – Kotor, Montenegro – Split & Ravinj, Croatia. The pictures are from the places we really enjoyed – Trieste, Venice, Kotor, Split & Ravinj
If you click on the first picture it will allow you to create a slide show. And it turns out they are in ascending order (in other words, the first is actually the last) So if you click the back arrow you will see them in order. Enjoy!
FUN-travel: Seabourn Cruise Recap
October 20, 2013 by Susan Clarke · Comments Off on FUN-travel: Seabourn Cruise Recap
- Cruise Recap – This was our 3rd Seabourn cruise and our first on the Spirit, which is a small ship with only 125 cabins. Seabourn has sold their 3 small ships to Wind Star and are concentrating on their larger ships. (twice the size)
- We combined our day ratings and created an average for each port we visited.
Corfu – 2.5
Katakolon – 4.0
*Igoumenitsa – .5
Brindisi – 5
Kotor – 10
Split – 8
Ravinj – 9.5
Venice – 10
*I’m the eternal optimist (hence the .5 rating)
- We think the food was best on the Quest, then the Sojourn and lastly this ship. Service was great and the room was a very comfortable 277 sq ft. (it was the cheapest too)
- The Greece ports were pretty much a disappointment – and a bigger disappointment for the women who thought Corfu was in the Greek Islands located in the Aegean Sea – it’s the Ionian sea & Santorini it’s not!
- My travel motto is: “I want to be surprised, and not pissed off.” I have learned it always pays to do a little homework to accomplish just that!
FUN-fact – When you reach 20 days of cruising they give you one of several options for free. I opted for the 25 minute massage $70 – (best cost value) and Chris opted for 2 hrs of free internet – $19.95. We like the “freebies” a lot!
FUN-travel: Venice to Rimini, Italy – End of Seabourn Cruise
October 20, 2013 by Susan Clarke · Comments Off on FUN-travel: Venice to Rimini, Italy – End of Seabourn Cruise
Day 30 – Tuesday, October 15 – End of Seabourn Cruise – Venice to Rimini, Italy – foggy & overcast – 62
What I LIKE
- 7:00 – my usual hot capp arrives
- 8:20 – walk out of room
- 8:40 – breakfast & sandwich to go
- 9:30 – walk off ship
- *sit in ship terminal to post & check email
- 11:00 – take public ferry to train station – only costs $14 for both
- they have ramps covering steps so easy to schlep bags
- only have 4 stops before St. Lucia train station
- 11:20 – arrive
- **11:30 – locate bag check next to Track 1
- 11:50 – pizza break – Pizzeria Vittoria – Trip Advisor sign
- no cover or service charge
- 1 each diavola & funghi w/drinks only $20 Euro
- more wandering the alleyways & narrow streets & dead ends
- 2:00 – head back to train station
- ***2:42 – board train – have reservations
- 2:57 – depart on time
- no changing trains
- 5:34 – arrive on time
- elevator @ very end of platform!
- TI – outside station
- +taxi to DuoMo $10 Euro
- 5:50 – arrive hotel – really modern – nice big room w/2 balconies – small but like the fresh air
- free & fast internet
- 8:15 – little hungry – Mattia @ front desk recommends Spazi – half block up and around corner
- Veggie salad w/tuna, tomatoes, onion & caprese (best ever!) homegrown tomatoes & divine buffalo
- mozzarella melt in your mouth – nice $30 Euro bottle of local wine (grown 15 miles away) 2008 San Valentino Terra di Covignana Sangiovese – total dinner cost $60 Euro & Bellisima!
- 9:55 – back to hotel for night night
Question to Ponder – How would you like to be the Fed Ex delivery person here? They carry packages on a large dolly/cart. Going up and down the steps proves to be quite challenging as the packages fall off. Then when they have a delivery they leave the cart in the middle of the alley/street and leave it. Made me wonder how many people steal packages off the unattended cart?
What I DON’T LIKE
- 6:30 wake up
- no answer for room service hot cappuccino
- 8:00 – supposed to be out of cabin
- *still have 25 unused expensive internet minutes!
- **costs $5 Euros per bag – 5 hr minimum & only need 3 hr
- ***required & costs additional $29 for 2 and plenty of seats
- starts spitting rain
- +no meter & not far (like 500 meters) & really worth about $5 Euro
FUN-fact – Conde Nast readers vote Florence as #1 favorite city every year. I’m convinced it’s because they can read the map and get where they want pretty easy. Venice is not as easy but you will never be lost very long if you have a map.
FUN-travel: Venice to Venice Seabourn Cruise – Day 10 – Full Day in Venice
October 17, 2013 by Susan Clarke · Comments Off on FUN-travel: Venice to Venice Seabourn Cruise – Day 10 – Full Day in Venice
Day 29 – Monday, October 14 – Seabourn Cruise Day 10 – Venice, Italy – mostly cloudy w/sporadic patches of sun – cool, high 63
What I LIKE‘
- 9:30 – fruit & egg white omelet w/sandwich to go
- need strength for big walk
- 11:00 – take off for wandering through maze of alleys, bridges over canals, and dead end passage ways
- no agenda
- *12:45 – make it to Piazza San Marco
- find really sweet 4” x 4” black murano glass dish/plate – $45 Euro
- pigeon hops on my bag
- good thing I had my sandwich
- don’t have to buy bird seed
- **1:15 – cappuccino break @ caffe’ aurora
- continue wandering
- 3:15 – gelato cone break – only $1.3 Euro
- 4:15 – back to ship &
- happy hour on sky deck w/snacks from high tea
- pack up & shower
- ***6:45 – jazz on sky deck
- 7:10 – arrive & they’re done playing (Chris made it though)
- 7:30 – Mediterranean night @ restaurant 2 – yellow fin tuna ceviche, corn & chicken soup, shrimp ensalada, pan seared mahi mahi, grilled rib eye steak
- +figured out to call 2 hrs before & check availability – seems there’s always room &
- we like that it’s less formal & more intimate
- 10:00 – last chance to dance party
- 11:30 – luggage outside not a problem
What I DON’T LIKE
- *tons of tourists & we’re out of season
- ** have to send back, not hot &
- costs $16 Euro for 2 – OUCH!
- ***totally missed it
- +you’re only allowed to make reservations here twice in a cruise
- 11:00 – luggage is supposed to be outside room
FUN-fact – Venetian’s call St. Marks Square simply the Piazza, since it has always been the only one in town deemed worthy of the name.